Mechanism for separating and feeding lacing-hooks or the like to raceways.



No. 729,526; PATENTBD JUNE '2, 1903.

W. P; BARTEL. D

MECHANISM FOR SEPARATING AND FEEDING LAGING HOOKS 0R THE LIKE TO RAGBWAYS, v APPLIUATION FILED JULY 17.1902.

no MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

m5 uomus nnzas co. womu'mo.v wunmman, n c.

U ITE STATESLPA-ETENT OFFICE.

WILLIAMPJ BAR-TEL, WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN LACING HOOK CO1, :OF WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MECHANISM FOR SEPARATING AND FEEDING LAC INGHOOKS OR THE LIKE TO RACEWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part ofLetters Eat ent No; 729,526, dated June 2-, 1903.

Application filed July 17, 1902-.

This invention relates to devices for separating lacing-hooks or the like from a mass of the same and delivering them one byone to a raceway.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of the character hereinbefore set forth in which lacing-hooks or like articles may be separated from a mass of such articles held and without the possibility of said articles becoming caught betweenthe moving and stationary portions of the device, thus leading to injury either to the working parts of the device or to the articles being separated and fed to the raceway.

The invention consists,in a device of the character described, of a rotary cylindrical disk, a rotary picker-arm, said plate and picker-arm located in two parallel planes and provided for the purpose of receiving the head of a lacing-hook or like article, with a space between the picker-arm and the rotary. plate. Y

. The invention again consists in the instrumentalities hereinbefore set forth, in combination with a hopper provided with a supply- 21-and has fastened to the front end thereof chamber and a delivery-chamber, a vertical partition separating one of said chambers from the other, said partition provided with an opening connecting the bottom of said chambers with each other.

The invention finally consistsin the combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specificationyand particularly pointed out'in the claims thereof.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly broken away to save space in the drawings, of a hopper and raceway and mechanism for separating lacinghooks and the like from a mass of lacing- Serial no. 115.910. (N model.)

.hooks contained withinthe hopper and de-' livering them'one by one to the raceway con= struct'ed in accordance with my invention and particularly designed and adapted to separating and feedinglacing-hooks in a lacinghook-setting machine. Fig. 2 is a. front elevation of the hopper with the front cover,

' raceway,and separating mechanism removed.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3 3 .ofFig. 1 looking toward the right in said figure with the front cover removed.' Fig. at is la detail side elevation of the 'pickerarms. Fig. 5 is a detail side .elevation of the rotary disk. }of the arms and a portion ofthe rotary disk Fig. 6 is a detail section through one to which said arm is fastened, taken on line 6 6 of Fig. l. in a hopper without injury to said articles Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the drawings, 10 is a hopper provided with a plate 11, by means of which the hopper may be attached to the frame of a lacinghook-setting machine. The lacing-hooks 12 are poured into asupply-chamher 13 through a funnel 14 and pass downwardly from said supply-chamber through an opening 15 pro- .vided in the vertical partition 16, which separates the supply-chamber 13 from a delivery-chamber 17. The lower wall 18 of the hopper is inclined downwardly to guide the lacing books from the supply chamber 13 through the opening-15-to the delivery-chamber17r. The front side of the delivery-chamber is preferably provided with a cover 19.

A rotary shaft 20 is journaled in a bearing Patented June 2, 1903.

a holder 22, to which is fastened by screws 1 23 the inner ends of the picker-arms 24. The outer ends of .the picker-arms 24 are fastened by screws or rivets 25 to a cylindrical disk 26, said'disk and picker-arms being rotated as one piece by the shaft 20, the periphery of the picker-arms and disk running in' an annular recess 27 counterbored in the front wall 28 of the hopper 10. The disk 26 is provided with a central annular opening 29,

concentric therewith and extending therethrough.

Araceway 30 is fastened to the. cover 19 and consists of two plates 31 and 32. The plate 31 is bent inwardly through an opening 33 in the cover 19 and, extending through the annular opening 29 in the disk 26, terminates at its upperend in line with each of the picker-arms 24 as said arms are rotated. 'lhe picker-arms 24 are connected together by a cylindrical ring 34, integral therewith.

The operation of the device as a whole is as follows: The lacing-hooks are poured into the hopper 10 through the funnel 14 and de scend into the supply-chamber l3, thence passing from the bottom-thereof through the opening 15 in the vertical partition 16 into the delivery-chamber 17. The hooks stand in the bottom of the delivery-chamber at about the height of the top of the opening 15, and as the picker-arms 24, together with the disk 26,are'rotated in the direction of the arrow, Fig. l, the hooks are taken from the bottom of the delivery-chamber 17 by the different picker-arms 24 and carried upwardly, each arm stopping in its turn in the position of the arm 24, Fig. 1, whereupon the lacing-hooks slide down the arm 24: upon the portion 31 of the raceway, and thence outwardly through the opening 29 in the disk 26 and through the opening 33 in the cover 19, as shown in Fig. 1. The picker-arms and the annular ring by which they are connected one to the other are well known to those skilled in the art; but the cylindrical disk or plate 26, attached to said arms, with a space between the disk and the arms suificient to admit the head of a lacing-hook, said disk or plate moving during the rotation of the arms at the same speed as said arms, isa new feature in devices of this class and acts as arotary shield to prevent the lacing-hooks from coming in contact with the cover 19 and, as a matter of fact, constituting a movable side wall to said hopper, holding the lacinghooks therein. Its advantage in practical use is twofold. First, it strengthens and stilfens the picker-arms, so that they will not spring; but mainly its advantage and value in operation consist in the fact that as the lacinghooks are carried up from the bottom of the hopper to be delivered to the raceway, as hereinbefore described, by the picker-arms, the surface adjacent to the heads of the lacing-hooks moves with the picker-arms, the surface in this case being the disk 26, the disk 26 forming in reality a movable cover for the side of the chamber 17. This construction obviates any binding of the head of the lacing-hook bet-ween the moving picker-arms and the front of the hopper-chamber. Heretofore the front of the chamber, corresponding in position to the disk 26, has been stationary, and consequently as the pickerarms rotated the heads often becamejammed between the picker-arms and the stationary front of the hopper, resulting in damage to the lacing-hooks and also to the picker-arms, often bending said arms out of line and resulting in injury both to the picker-arms and to the lacing-hooks, as well as causing the lacing-hooks to become burred and roughened up, so that they would not feed properly from the picker-arms to the raceway and down the raceway.

While I have shown and described my improved device for separating and feeding lacing-hooks as applied to picker-arms delivering at the center to a raceway, it is evident that the same may be applied to picker-arms, well known to those skilled in the art, in which the lacing-hook is delivered at the outer ends of thearms to a raceway, a movable cylindrical plate or disk 26 being attached to said arms in a similar manner to that hereinbefore shown and described. It is also obvious that a movable cylindrical plate may be attached to a rocking pickerarm or to a reciprocatory picker-arm, each of said forms being well known to those skilled in this art. In each of the cases mentioned it is understood that the disk or plate corresponding to the disk 26 would be attached to the picker-arms in such a manner as to move therewith and with a space provided between the picker-arms and the disk or plate to receive the head of a lacing-hook or the like.

The advantage secured in the construction of hopper hereinbefore set forth consists in the fact that only a'few of the lacing-hooks stored in the hopper are in direct contact or communication with the picker-arms, the number of hooks delivered into the deliverychamber from the supply-chamber 13 normally standing at about the level of the top of the opening 15 in the partition 16, and thus as the picker-arms pass through the lacing-hooks in the bottom of the chamber 17 there is less friction and wear of the pickerplates upon the lacing-hooks tending to remove the japan from the lacing-hooks and injure them by thus removing the japan and by bending them, and also aftera few lacinghooks have been picked up by one of the arms in the proper position, with the head lying between said picker-arm and the disk 26, said lacing-hooks are much more liable to be delivered to the raceway, as shown in Fig. 1, when a few lacing-hooks are in the bottom of the hopper than is the case where said lacing-hooks upon the arms have to be carried through a mass of lacing-hooks in the hopper extending. up nearly to the center of the hopper, and, moreover, it will be seen that while only a few lacing-hooks are in direct contact with the picker-arms, yet a large amount of lacing-hooks may be stored in the hopper, in the supply-chamber 13, and in the funnel 14 ready to be delivered therefrom into the delivery-chamber as fast as the lacing-hooks are taken from the delivery-chamber, as hereinbefore set forth.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire by Letters Patent to secure, is

1. In a device of the character described, a rotary cylindrical plate, and a rotary picker- IIO arm, said plate and picker-arm located in two parallel planes and provided for the purpose specified with a space therebetween.

2. In a device of the character described, a rotary cylindrical plate, and a picker-arm fast thereto, said plate and vpicker-arm located in two parallel planes and provided for the purpose specified with a space therebetween.

3. In a device of the character described, a rotary cylindrical disk and a series of pickerarms fast thereto arranged concentrically therewith, said picker-arms located in one plane and said disk located in another plane, said planes parallel to each other and provided for the purpose specified with a space therebetween.

4. In a device of the character described, a rotary cylindrical disk provided with a central annular opening extending transversely therethrongh, and a series of picker-arms fast' to said disk arranged concentrically therewith, said picker-arms located in one plane and said disk located in another plane, said planes parallel to eachother and provided for the purpose specified with a space therebetween. l

5. In a device of the character described, a hopper, a shaft journaled therein, a series of concentrically-arranged picker-arms fast to said shaft, and a cylindrical disk fast to said picker-arms and concentric therewith, said picker-arms located in one plane and said disk located in another plane, said planes parallel to each other and provided for the purpose specified with a space therebetween.

6. A feeding device for lacing-hooks and thelike comprisingahopper,ashaftjournaled therein, a rotary cylindrical disk provided with a central annular hole extending transversely therethrough, a stationary raceway one end thereof extending through said hole,

and a series of concentrically-arran ged pickerarms, each of said picker-arms fast to said disk at one end and to said shaftat the other end, and arranged to deliver lacing-hooks from their inner ends to said raceway, said picker-arms located in one plane and said disk located in another plane,rsaid.planes parallel to each other and provided with 'a space therebetween to receive the head of a lacing-hook.

7. In a device of the character described, a hopper, provided with a supply-chamber and a delivery-chamber, a vertical partition separating one of said chambers from the other, said partition provided with an opening connecting the bottoms of said chambers with each other, a rotary disk, and a series of picker-arms fast to said rotary disk, said picker-arms and disk forming one side wall of said delivery-chamber, and holding the lacing-hooks therein.

8. Ina device of the character described, a hopper, provided with a supply-chamber and a-delivery-chamber, a vertical partition separating one of saidv chambers from the other, said partition provided with an opening connecting the bottom of said chambers with each other, a rotary disk, and a series of picker-arms fast to said rotary disk, said vided for the purpose specified with a space therebetween, said disk constituting a movableside wall to said hopper to hold the lacing-hooks therein.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM R. BARTE'L.

VVitnes ses:

CHARLES S. Goonme, ANNIE J. -DAILEY. 

